


Of Puddings and Piracy

by MercurialBianca_TheHonorableMrsMcCarthy, PhryneFicathon



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-15 20:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13620993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercurialBianca_TheHonorableMrsMcCarthy/pseuds/MercurialBianca_TheHonorableMrsMcCarthy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhryneFicathon/pseuds/PhryneFicathon
Summary: Jack thought they were about to settle into a game of draughts by the fire and tuck into an aged Irish whiskey he was particularly keen to try when Phryne had instead given him one of her looks and made a request.





	Of Puddings and Piracy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Scruggzi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scruggzi/gifts).



She’d told him to close his eyes. 

Six months ago, that might have raised an eyebrow from him. But that was then. _Now_ was after a cryptic overseas appointment, an ocean voyage that took him halfway round the world, and a welcome that had lasted two days before they’d emerged to see the rest of London.

They hadn’t seen much of each other this past week, both working different cases. He with Scotland Yard and she attending to the delicate family matter of some distant royal in Knightsbridge. But now her case was wrapped up and Jack had the evening off, waiting for a piece of crucial evidence to be analyzed. 

Jack thought they were about to settle into a game of draughts by the fire and tuck into an aged Irish whiskey he was particularly keen to try when Phryne had instead given him one of her looks and made her request.

“I have a surprise for you, Jack. But you’ll have to close your eyes first.”

She looked rather pleased with herself and it piqued his curiosity, so he complied.

He felt her strong, elegant hand grasp his own and then the gentle pressure of her opening his palm. The next sensation was slightly warm and metallic. She’d likely had the item in question in her palm for some time. There was a small clink of a fine chain.

“Okay Jack, you can open your eyes now.”

He looked down to see a piece of metal attached to a chain. Upon closer inspection it was part of a unique coin. He flipped it over and there was an inscription:

_‘A bit of old Dutch. Lost somewhere. Found in a Shanty pudding. Feb 28th, 1903’_

“Am I the receiver of stolen goods?” 

“Let’s call it lost property. If my client decides he’d like it back…”

“He can fight me for it.” Jack proceeded to clasp the chain around his neck.

Phryne’s smile grew wider and her face lit up as she lightly touched the enameled swallow brooch, pinned to her lapel. She rarely went a day without wearing it, even though Jack had granted her sartorial immunity when she needed it.

“The less you know about where it came from the better, but suffice it to say, it appeared in my client’s hands due to _mysterious circumstances_ that may, or may not, have been around the time of that unsolved bank heist ten years ago.”

“Well then, it may not be a doubloon from a Spanish galleon, but there is a bit of piracy behind its origins. Plus, who can resist a coin that manages to secure itself in a bread pudding? I know I have had a shanty pudding or two that would only have been improved by finding a coin from an exotic locale.”

“Not your mother’s I hope? In my head, she’s a marvelous baker and is the one who taught you to make those marvelous biscuits.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “My mother was indeed a marvel of the baking arts. The army chefs on the other hand were focused on hearty sustenance, more than culinary heights. Quite frankly, under the circumstances, we were lucky they even tried to bake anything at all.” 

Phryne groaned in agreement, remembering many dreadful desserts nobly attempted by army cooks trying to bring a bit of humanity to their charges. Gallant efforts under heinous conditions.

Jack’s eyes narrowed “And, I see I will need to add a lock to my desk drawer when I return to Melbourne. Someone has clearly been nosing about my office. How did you know I baked those? I could have had an admirer attempting to woo me.”

It was Phryne’s turn to raise a perfectly arched brow. “Well Jack, I am a detective after all and I had to consider the facts. The biscuits were spiced, which indicated someone with Northern European baking sensibilities, as opposed to say, biscotti.”

Jack tilted his head, giving her a knowing glance before nodding his head and conceding the point. Phryne began pacing, warming to her topic.

“The biscuits were stored in a rather utilitarian tin. A suitor would have been inclined to spruce up the tin a bit with colorful paper and ribbons. Now a female relative, especially an aunt or the like, would be inclined to be generous in quantity, to enable you to share with your constables and other visitors to the station.”

Jack’s eyes twinkled with mirth and his lips quirked in a half smile.

“Based on the evidence you had, those are all very good deductions, Miss Fisher.”

“Hmm, I sense a ‘but’ coming.”

Jack wiggled his brows.

“What you, and presumably Collins, didn’t account for is that my mate’s wife might take pity on the bachelor friend around for Sunday supper and insist on sending him home with a tin of biscuits to tide him over for the week.”

Phryne gasped, the idea of Jack having a mate like that, which she had never heard of or met, leaving her momentarily stunned. But a thought occurred to her that quickly snapped her back to the case at hand. “No wait, you just admitted, did you not, that you had baked the biscuits? Therefore, trying to weave a tale of the sympathetic bachelor will not work, Jack Robinson.”

“Ah, well done Miss Fisher, therefore, I am forced to confess. I do indeed bake a batch of my mother’s biscuits every two weeks, just like she used to do for us boys growing up. The recipe, written in her elegant script, next to my grandmother’s original German, is one of my greatest treasures.”

Phryne’s heart melted at the confession. Every time she thought she couldn’t adore him any more than she already did, something like this would come up. She placed a hand on his cheek.

“Oh, Jack.”

Jack had no intention of the evening turning too nostalgic. Not all family memories were happy ones. So, he decided to bring them back to the playfulness of earlier. He looked up at her and locked gazes. Her clear eyes to his stormy ones, before proceeding.

“I like all my treasures to be well-traveled.”

Phryne picked up on his cue (Didn’t she always?) draped herself onto his lap, folding her arms around him. A playful move to add to her playful tone.

“So, a bit like me?”

Jack surprised her by standing up, cradling her in his arms.

“Especially like you.”

Phryne let out a sound of approval.

“You know, us pirate girls of Collingwood are always seeking out treasures on our adventures?”

“Should I worry about being plundered?”

Phryne began unbuttoning his shirt as he started to carry her to the boudoir.

“Oh, absolutely.”

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt were these [two](https://78.media.tumblr.com/4e44a9858962c8c13b2569171f3efc18/tumblr_inline_p3vnqnupLl1tb1xfi_540.jpg) [images](https://78.media.tumblr.com/c60cdfa0fd64450de9956a6d83a92c4f/tumblr_inline_p3vnqnOltC1tb1xfi_540.jpg), and the explanation: _this is a pendant made out of a third of a Dutch Gilder, the inscription on the back is ‘A bit of old Dutch. Lost somewhere. Found in a Shanty pudding. Feb 28th 1903’ I have no idea what this means. My grandad found it in an exploded bank safe in mysterious circumstances._
> 
>  
> 
> __
> 
>  
> 
>   
> 


End file.
